So Very Wrong About Games

The Card Crafting System returns once more, its heaps of mylar inserting into our gaming life. I would say it darkens our door, but the things are mostly transparent, so the idiom doesn't quite fit. One wonders whether and how one could sleeve a Card Crafting game, given that the games largely consist of sleeves already--but once one has witnessed the recursive horror that is sleeve sleeves, you cannot doubt the persistence and ingenuity of the Cult of Sleeves. They will, like life, find a way--perhaps sleeving each insert before inserting them into an ur-sleeve that will smother us all. The horror.

Games Played Last Week:
-Tiny Epic Mechs 1m32s (Scott Almes, Gamelyn Games, 2019)
-Yokohama 2m45s (Hisashi Hayashi, Tasty Minstrel Games, 2016)
-Risk: Mass Effect Galaxy at War Edition 7m43s (Andrew Wolf, The OP, 2013)
-Pulsar 2849 10m37s (Vladimír Suchý, CGE, 2017)
-Antidote 13m06s (Dennis Hoyle, Bellwether Games, 2013)
-Human Punishment: Social Deduction 2.0 14m33s (Stefan Godot, Godot Games, 2018)
-Villagers 18m21s (Haakon Gaarder, Sinister Fish Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Sidereal Confluence expansion? 20m12s
-New Orleans (gotta have a campaign) 21m11s
-More Steding: Gugong expansion 23m16s
-Pandemic system offshoots staying in print 23m53s
-Successors Kickstarter launched 25m40s
-Jagged Alliance expansion 27m59s

Feature Game: Edge of Darkness 29m10s (John D. Clair, AEG, 2019)

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There are happy stories. Stories of social serendipity, where you like them and they like you, and all opinions are as one and there is harmony. Where no awkward conversations need be had and no unfortunate lines drawn. Where no one is annoyed, and no one is harassed, and no one must bury their preferences so as to placate another. These are not these stories.

AYURIS: Food Chain Magnate 1m37s (Jeroen Doumen & Joris Wiersinga, Splotter Spellen, 2015)

Games Played Last Week:
-Gugong 3m50s (Andreas Steding, Game Brewer, 2018)
-Infinity 4m37s (Gutier Lusquiños Rodríguez, Corvus Belli, 2005)
-Slide Quest 7m34s (Nicolas Bourgoin & Jean-François Rochas, Blue Orange, 2019)
-Rhino Hero Super Battle 11m41s (Scott Frisco & Steven Strumpf, HABA, 2017)
-Tiny Epic Mechs 13m40s (Scott Almes, Gamelyn Games, 2019)
-Horizon Wars 16m50s (Robey Jenkins, Osprey Publishing, 2016)
-Calimala 20m39s (Fabio Lopiano, ADC Blackfire Entertainment GmbH, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Hansa Teutonica Big Box! 21m52s
-After the After the Empire Kickstarter 23m00s
-Blacklist Games goes 8-bit with Bomberman and Contra 24m15s
-Asmodee bought something again (again) 25m27s
-Mark Rosewater “Why Diversity Matters in Game Design” 26m41s
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/why-diversity-matters-game-design-2019-08-19

Topic: When, Why and How to Exclude People 27m32s

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So. Many. Games. Even after careful curation and surgical editing, Mark and Walker talk about thirteen different games they played last week, not even counting the feature game. It was truly a good week. New games! Old games! Co-ops, minis, dexterity, wargames! Come join us at the cornucopia of amusement that is this week's SVWAG.

Games Played Last Week:
-Beasts of Balance 1m29s (George Buckenham & Alex Fleetwood, Sensible Object, 2016)
-Teotihuacan: City of Gods 3m32s (Daniele Tascini, NSKN Games, 2018)
-Obsession 4m19s (Dan Halladay, Kayenta Games, 2018)
-Star Trek: Conflick in the Neutral Zone 6m31s (Mike Elliott, WizKids, 2019)
-Pandemic: Fall of Rome 11m10s (Matt Leacock & Paolo Mori, Z-Man, 2018)
-Pandemic: Rapid Response 12m25s (Kane Klenko, Z-Man Games, 2019)
-Concordia 16m18s (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2013)
-Pulsar 2849 19m26s (Vladimír Suchý, CGE, 2017)
-Lords of Hellas: Dark Ages Expansion 25m01s (Adam Kwapiński, Awaken Realms, 2019)
-Just One 28m06s (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Production, 2018)
-Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan 28m41s (Matt Calkins, GMT, 2011)
-Tannhauser Revised Edition 31m22s (Daniel Clark, J. R. Godwin, William Grosselin, & Jeff Tidball, Fantasy Flight, 2010)
-Core Worlds 34m22s (Andrew Parks, Stronghold, 2011)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-https://www.patreon.com/svwag
-Puerto Rico reprint 35m43s
-How to earn success with Successors 36m57s
-Gloomhaven digital early access 38m51s
-Those without SEAL Team Flix, you have failed 39m28s
-The Tiny Epic brand goes Ultra Tiny 40m21s
-A Tapestry of distribution 41m01s

Feature Game: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Warcry 42m33s (Uncredited, Games Workshop, 2019)

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What is gaming other than an outlet for vicarious experiences and thrills? To enjoy the simulacrum of killing, adventure, high finance, and impressing feudal lords? We can thus assert with great sincerity that ours shall be the very best GenCon coverage, in that we didn't go. Why trust the easily-misled first hand accounts? We know from both philosophy and science that sense data deceives. You can put your faith in our reflections, completely unbiased by any experience.

AYURIS: Kemet 1m15s (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2012)

Games Played Last Week:
-Kemet 3m57s (Jacques Bariot & Guillaume Montiage, Matagot, 2012)
-Tower of Babel 5m41s (Reiner Knizia, Hans im Gluck, 2005)
-Q.E. 10m09s (Gavin Birnbaum, Boardgametables.com, 2019)
-The Ares Project 11m53s (Brian Engelstein & Geoff Engelstein, Z-Man, 2011)
-Mech Command RTS 14m28s (Chris Gabrielson, Bad Crow Games, 2018)
-Import/Export 20m14s (Jordan Draper, Dark Flight Games, 2017)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-How many Cyperpunks does one need? 25m05s
-An actual Eric Lang joint: Ankh 25m33s
-More Fiasco 26m51s
-Everyone can relax, Mark has been made whole 28m28s

Topic: What We Would Have Done at GenCon 30m39s
Lou Zocchi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXZbdZNuRIw&t=5s

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Failure can be a fortuitous thing, which is very good for Mark, as he is well accustomed to failure. While this week's review of Pax Renaissance is certainly not on the scale of, say, penicillin, it did give him the opportunity to play one of his top 20 games more. As to whether Walker profited or suffered from this development is a deep and abiding mystery solvable only by listening to this week's episode.

Games Played Last Week:
-Gaslands 2m29s (Glenn Ford & Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2017)
-Space Hulk 3rd edition 4m56s (Richard Halliwell, Games Workshop, 2009)
-Horizon Wars 7m37s (Robey Jenkins, Osprey Publishing, 2016)
-Time of Crisis 10m30s(Wray Ferrell & Brad Johnson, GMT, 2017)
-Q.E. 12m30s (Gavin Birnbaum, Boardgametables.com, 2019)
-Lords of Hellas: Dark Ages Expansion 15m12s (Adam Kwapinski, Awaken Realms, 2019)
-Getaway Driver 16m12s (Jeff Beck, Uproarious Games, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Goodbye to Richard Berg 18m17s
-Spyfall through time 19m35s
-The unfolding Golden Bell situation 20m28s
-Walker shills his auction 23m53s

Feature Game: Pax Renaissance 24m14s (Phil Eklund & Matt Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)

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We can pretend that our adult pastimes are more sophisticated and evolved from the trivialities of mere children, but really, let's admit it--it's all the same. We can't claim any degree of superiority when compared to the antics of ankle-biters. Let's be mature about it and lean into the juvenalia, shall we? My doll is better than your doll. My doll has the Plasmanator Meltotron. You can't hit my doll, it has an invisible everything shield!

AYURIS: Keyflower 1m58s (Sebastian Bleasdale & Richard Breese, R&D Games, 2012)

Games Played Last Week:
-Pax Renaissance 4m25s (Phil Eklund & Matt Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)
-Root 4m27s (Cole Wehrle, Leder Games, 2018)
-Neuroshima Hex! 3.0 6m46s (Michal Oracz, Portal Games, 2006)
-Modern Art 8m30s (Reiner Knizia, CMON, 2017)
-Quadropolis 12m30s (Francois Gandon, Days of Wonder, 2016)
-Lords of Hellas: Lord of the Sun 14m03s (Adam Kwapinski, Awaken Realms, 2019)
-Men at Work 17m53s (Rita Modl, Pretzel Games, 2019)
-Rhino Hero Giant Edition 18m57s (Scott Frisco & Steven Strumpf, Sugorokuya, 2018)
-Piratenbillard 20m36s (Reinhold Wittig, ABACUSSPIELE, 1959)
-Joraku 22m47s (Iori Tsukinami, Tasty Minstrel, 2015)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-CMON's "Teburu": The future? 25m17s
-Mental Blocks at Gencon 30m47s
-Real-time medical follies with Rush M.D. 32m07s
-More Carl Chudyk in the Aegean Sea 33m09s
-Dragonball Zed 34m58s
-Spiel des Jahres winners 35m51s
-More Aristeia! 36m56s

Topic: Tabletop Miniatures Gaming 38m03s

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"May you get everything you want" is nothing short of a curse, I think, and so this week we curse you with your own desires. You wanted us to play Middara, so we did. You wanted more information about Sol: Last Days of a Star, so we oblige. As you weep, surrounded by the wreckage wrought by your own wishes, don't come to us for solace, for we are but the accomplices of your own self-destruction. Also, if that weren't terrifying enough, intergalactic scorpions!

Games Played Last Week:
-Men at Work 1m43s (Rita Modl, Pretzel Games, 2019)
-Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1 5m48s (Clayton Helme, Brooklynn Lundberg, Brennon Moncur, & Ian Tate, SUccubus Publishing, 2019)
-Dinosaur Island 12m44s (Jonathan Gilmour & Brian Lewis, Pandasaurus Games, 2017)
-Planet 14m11s (Urtis Šulinskas, Blue Orange, 2018)
-Rangers of Shadow Deep 17m38s (Joseph McCullough, Self-published, 2018)
-Pax Renaissance 19m39s (Phil Eklund & Matt Eklund, Sierra Madre Games, 2016)
-Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Dawn 20m16s (Felix Mertikat, King Racoon Games, 2018)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Conan. Again. 25m46s
-Good compatibility news about Quest for El Dorado 26m19s
-Kingdomino gets a roll-and-write 26m51s
-Yggdrasil needed a campaign 27m44s
-Through the Ages expands after 16 years 28m56s
-Support for Meltwater's Erin Lee Escobedo's mom 29m50s
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kirsten-beat-cancer

Feature Game: Sol: Last Days of a Star 30m39s (Ryan Spangler & Sean Spangler, Elephant Laboratories, 2017)

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Since tableau-building today is very much what auctions were twenty years ago, we take a look at both in this week's episode. The Pax games continue ever onward, even as most of our favourite auction game were published 10+ years ago. Mark resists the urge to go off on a tangent about the Trolley Problem, which allows Walker to resist the urge to send Mark's teeth off on a tangent from his mouth. Compromise.

AYURIS: 1m32s Hyperborea (Andrea Chiarvesio & Pierluca Zizzi, Asterion Press, 2014)
Orleans (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2014)
Altiplano (Reiner Stockhausen, dlp Games, 2017)

Games Played Last Week:
-Thunderstone Quest: Barricades Mode 4m14s (Mike Elliott, Bryan Reese, & Mark Wootton, AEG, 2019)
-Pax Pamir (Second Edition) 9m01s (Cole Wehrle, Wehrelegig Games, 2019)
-Sol: Last Days of a Star 17m16s (Ryan Spangler & Sean Spangler, Elephant Laboratories, 2017)
-Skip-Bo 21m36s (Hazel "Skip" Bowman, Mattel, 1967)
-LAMA (aka Wrath of the Appliances: Rise of the Killer Kameras) 23m10s (Reiner Knizia, AMIGO, 2019)
-Glen More 24m32s (Matthias Cramer, alea, 2010)
-Among Thieves 26m53s (Floyd Pretz, Indie Boards & Cards, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Planned obsolescence in Quest for El Dorado? 31m50s
-Pacific Rim could defy expectations? 32m35s
-Tariff reprieve? 33m10s
-Knizia's Babylonia shows promise? 33m45s
-Will Mark sap the fun out of Principle Dilemma? 34m42s

Topic: Auctions 36m46s

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I swear, one dude gets his arm cut off in a cantina and we're still harping on about it forty years later. Have a sense of proportion! I got beat up in high school twenty years ago, but you don't hear me whining. That dude should have done what I did--rounded up a posse and threatened retaliation if any assault persisted. He could have rallied those pushed around by laser sword-wielding hermits and made the galaxy safe for... hold on, I think I just started writing fanfic.

Games Played Last Week:
-Antike II 1m33s (Mac Gerdts, PD-Verlag, 2015)
-Council of 4 3m42s (Simone Luciani & Daniele Tascini, CMON, 2015)
-Deception: Murder in Hong Kong 6m18s (Tobey Ho, Grey Fox Games, 2014)
-Gaslands: Refuelled 8m06s (Mike Hutchinson, Osprey Publishing, 2019)
-Rangers of Shadow Deep 10m04s (Joseph McCullough, Self-published, 2019)
-Beasts of Balance 12m51s (George Buckenham & Alex Fleetwood, Sensible Object, 2016)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-Die Macher Die Hards Disappointed 14m24s
-Flotilla invents the post-apocalypse 16m36s
-Ticket to Ride: The Musical? 17m22s
-Dance Card (High School 2.0) 19m00s
-Bloomberg article follow-up by Eric J. Francis 20m27s
https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/c7pnf7/i_wrote_that_bloomberg_article_on_luxury_board/

Feature Game: Star Wars: Outer Rim 23m57s (Corey Konieczka with Tony Fanchi, FFG, 2019)

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Knowing when to give up is a valuable skill. As children we are told to stick with painful and unpleasant things, and while that is often wise, sometimes it just results in more pain. Discerning the difference between choking down one's vegetables--good!--and pursuing a hobby merely for the sake of it--bad!--is a tricky bit of prudence that many adults can't quite seem to get. The notion of an "acquired taste" is somewhat related. Eating chocolate is something you can nail the first time and every time, so acquiring a taste for expensive Scotch whisky that tastes of dirt seems a little off. But sometimes... sometimes! You should try that thing again.

AYURIS: Crisis at Steamfall 4m16s (Tom Stasiak, Beautiful Disaster Games, 2019)

Games Played Last Week:
-Just One 6m04s (Ludovic Roudy & Bruno Sautter, Repos Productions)
-Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King 9m06s (Andreas Pelikan & Alexander Pfister, Lookout Games, 2015)
-Up Front 10m49s (Courtney F. Allen, Avalon Hill, 1983)
-Sol: Last Days of a Star 14m45s (Ryan Spangler & Sean Spangler, Elephant Laboratories, 2017)
-Bunny Kingdom 20m41s (Richard Garfield, IELLO, 2017)
-Rangers of Shadow Deep 25m25s (Joseph McCullough, Self-published, 2019)

News (and why it doesn't matter):
-More Middara 29m28s
-Starfarers of Catan Returns 30m32s
-Bloomberg Doesn't Understand 32m03s
-Pronunciation Legends from CMON 35m13s

Topic: Second Chances 36m14s

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